Recherche

Permanent anti-corruption unit: A tangible investment in the ethics and efficiency of our society, asserts the Québec Employers Council

MONTREAL, Feb. 18 /CNW Telbec/ - The Québec Employers Council hails the
creation of the permanent anti-corruption unit announced today by
Public Security Minister Robert Dutil and Labour Minister Lise
Thériault. The Council believes it is a viable option to fight
corruption in Québec in an efficient and sustainable manner.

"As we have repeatedly stated, it is essential that the battle against
corruption is based on established facts and not on allegations," said
Employers Council president, Yves-Thomas Dorval. "The organization
whose creation was announced today will enable the fact-gathering
process to be done on a credible and permanent basis, while avoiding
the tarnishing of innocent people's reputations or the granting of
unacceptable immunity to culpable individuals - as many public inquiry
commissions in Canada and Québec have, unfortunately, done in the
past."

The implementing of the permanent anti-corruption unit has the merit of
being able to responding to the legitimate concerns of the Québec
population by providing it with the guarantee of transparency and
account-rendering which the public has the right to expect. It will
also provide the public with information about the schemes carried out
by those who engage in fraud, influence peddling, collusion and
corruption in every sphere of public activity in the province of
Québec.

The broad diversity and synergy of expertise to which the permanent
anti-corruption unit has recourse, combined with an organizational
structure that promotes the streamlined exchange of information and
coordination of collective efforts in relation to a clear and well
defined strategy, endows this law-upholding instrument with an impact
proportional to the huge challenges that will have to be met in this
area. The Integrity Regime the government plans to set up - which,
notably, will protect civil servants denouncing fraudulent activities
in the future - is an improvement that should significantly help in the
fight against corruption.

"The broad scope of the organization's investigative powers, its
composition, the fact it would be accountable to the National Assembly,
and the functional links it will maintain with the government
authorities concerned by corruption are, in our opinion, reasons to be
pleased and hopeful in obtaining cogent and extensive results," added
Mr. Dorval. "This initiative by the government is a tangible investment
- which will definitely be beneficial - in the ethics and efficiency of
our society."

The Quebec Employers Council brings together many of Québec's largest
companies and the vast majority of sector-based employers' groups,
making it Québec's sole employer federation.